


As Deep as the Sea

by RedOrchid



Series: Quid Pro Quo + extras [3]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Downworlder Politics, Downworlder Squad Goals, F/M, Ficlet, Friendship, Luke Is Awesome, Luke-centric, M/M, Magnus Needs Advice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-07-19 02:24:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7340854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedOrchid/pseuds/RedOrchid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"Magnus, if there’s one thing I’ve learned since turning into a werewolf, it’s that the kind of prejudice we Shadowhunters grow up with runs as deep as the sea. Just because we </i>know<i> that the doctrine the Clave promotes is shit doesn’t mean we’re not affected by it."</i></p><p>(Luke gives Magnus some late-night friendly advice.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	As Deep as the Sea

**Author's Note:**

> Luke & Magnus friendship! Because I love Luke, and I love Magnus, and the entire Downworlder squad are my favourites. :D Also, something I think about a lot and which I'd love to see even more of on the show is the fact that I feel that Magnus, being 400+ years old should naturally gravitate towards the adults of the group rather than the younger generation, because there's simply more of a balance in life lived with someone like Luke than someone like Izzy, for example. Adult conversations! Dismantling old prejudices! Friendship! \o/
> 
> Can be read as part of the Quid Pro Quo-verse, in which case this takes place ca 1 year after QPQ and ca 6 months before the QPQ epilogue.

Luke doesn’t know exactly how it happens, but somehow, the strategy sessions that become more and more frequent as Valentine’s Shadowhunters start making their presence known gradually segue into the Downworlders of the group staying behind to have a drink together, while the Shadowhunters go off to patrol. 

One year after Valentine’s return, they’ve become quite a big group, growing more and more as each member manages to win over and bring in more people. Luke counts five alphas in their group now, apart from himself, Magnus has the Warlock Council back in action after more than two centuries of inactivity, and Raphael has nearly every Clan leader in the Eastern and Southern US on board.

It’s another couple of months after that, when they’ve just finished up with a meeting, that Magnus pulls him aside and into a different room, magic glowing quick and blue from his hands as the air around them take on a decidedly shimmering feel.

“Privacy Charm,” Magnus explains quickly, waving his hand again to will a coffee table and two chairs into existence. “Drink?”

Luke nods and takes a seat in one of the chairs, as Magnus makes two glittering cocktails appear in front of them. “You know, I really would be just as happy with a beer.”

Magnus waves his hand dismissively. “I don’t make beer, sorry. All that barley, and the fermentation process—it just never comes out quite right.” 

“Fair enough,” Luke replies. “So what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Maybe I just craved the pleasure of your company,” Magnus says. “Oh, _alright_ , I guess there has been something on my mind lately that I thought you’d be able to give me some insight on.”

“Okay,” Luke tells him, lifting his glass to his lips and taking a sip as Magnus clearly tries to collect himself. The drink tastes like fresh raspberries are having a party in his mouth with a pineapple and tiny flecks of gold. Luke finds he actually kind of likes it.

“Alec wants us to start a family,” Magnus says at last. “As in me and him having kids. Together. Right now, more or less.”

Luke takes in the announcement and mulls it over. “Sounds like a good idea to me?”

Magnus takes a sip from his own drink and then holds up the glass in front of him, as though he’s trying to see the secrets of the universe in the swirling liquid. “Is it though? I mean, we are who we are, after all, and the war is just—”

“The war could end tomorrow or go on for another ten years,” Luke interrupts him. “I know you have all the time in the world, but Alec doesn’t. I was born a Shadowhunter, remember? We marry young for a reason. Alec’s what, now? Twenty-three? That’s older than most of his people are when starting a family.”

“I know,” Magnus says, sighing heavily. “I just—I may be over four hundred years old, but the closest I’ve come to parenthood are children of close friends, and warlock orphans that needed an extra set of hands to care for them. And even then, I’ve only been a bonus parent at best. I don’t know if I’m cut out for the real thing.”

Luke reaches out and puts a hand on his shoulder, gives Magnus a moment to just sit there without either of them saying anything.

“I proposed to Jocelyn, you know,” he says after a while, an idea starting to form in his head. “After nineteen years, I finally told myself to stop inventing excuses. She’s the love of my life, and I’ve known it for a long while. It’s time to make it official.”

Magnus looks up at him, and a genuine smile spreads across his face. “That’s great! How’s Clary taking it?”

“Oh, she’s over the moon. It’s really nice to see.”

Magnus nods. “Glad to hear it.”

“When I was turned, I thought a lot of the things I’d grown up both wanting and expecting to have had been cut off from me,” Luke says. “Being married in gold is a big thing when you’re a Shadowhunter. It’s when you fully come into your power as an adult, regardless of your age. Unmarried people are… secondary, for lack of a better term. And the more advantageous your match, the more respect you’ll gain from it. Shadowhunters often say that the marriage ceremony is a seed, and love is but one flower that grows from it. So when all that happened—and when Jocelyn had to go into hiding—I somehow put mariage aside and decided it was impossible. I loved her, of course. I’ve loved her with every fibre of my being, and still do. But it’s always been a discreet and quiet love, not quite bold enough to stand in front of everyone and demand recognition—and that comes from both of us. After all, in the eyes of the Clave, she’s still married to Valentine.”

“So what changed?” Magnus asks.

“We did,” Luke replies. “I guess almost losing each other gave both of us that final push to pull the veil from our eyes. Just because my race is seen as inferior doesn’t mean it is. I can’t let a lie limit how I feel about her, and she can’t either. I’ve been in love with her for almost two decades, and it’s a _good_ love. I love Clary like my own daughter, and I’ve been there with her every step of the way growing up. I know the Clave will never acknowledge it, but I’m her father, and I’m Jocelyn’s husband. And we’ll get married our own way, with the people who support us. Who knows, I might even go ahead and wear something gold, just to stick it to them good.”

Magnus smiles at him and visibly sighs. “I wish Alec would hurry up and get to where you are with that. I know it’s selfish, and I _know_ it’s a process, but I can’t wait for the day when he holds my hand in public and truly doesn’t give a damn. It’s killing me that he’s still afraid, and I _know_ it’s a valid fear and that I’m being impatient, but the heart wants what it wants, I guess. It’s like—I’ve never met someone who makes me want to give myself over to them so completely. And I’m scared he won’t catch me if I fall.”

“Well,” Luke says, “as much as you like the drama, I have a feeling that, deep down, you know that Alec would give his life for you. Not only that, but he clearly wants to _live_ that life at your side. And you also know that wallowing in insecurity and passive-aggressively pushing him to openly prove his commitment is a dick move. You’ve been around the block a fair few times from what I hear from your immortal friends—and with people who truly loved you, not just sociopaths like Camille.”

“You’re right, of course,” Magnus says, deflating a little. “He’s just—”

“A Shadowhunter?” Luke supplies. “Magnus, if there’s one thing I’ve learned since turning into a werewolf, it’s that the kind of prejudice we Shadowhunters grow up with runs as deep as the sea. Just because we _know_ that the doctrine the Clave promotes is shit doesn’t mean we’re not affected by it. How many Downworlders have you seen killed during your lifetime, without anyone getting up in arms? How much violence against our kind has been forgiven and swept under the rug? I love Clary to death, but I’m not blind to what’s she’s becoming; in order to go out in the world and kill, every day, you need to distance yourself emotionally—tell yourself that what you’re hunting not only deserves to be killed, but that that one life means less than the other lives around you. I can’t say that I’m liking the development I’m seeing in her, but I do understand it. I was the same for a long, long time.”

Magnus sighs. “You know the funny thing is that I completely agree with you. One of the main reasons why I limited my interactions with Shadowhunters for so long was that I do know their kind. I was there to see the chiasm form, and I was one of the people trying to battle it. I watched them go from friends to employers, and then attempt to make themselves masters over us. All because of blood and a misguided notion that the way you’re born determines who you’ll be. I used to pity them for a while. After that, I just got angry.”

“It’s not easy,” Luke agrees. “Even living as mundanes, there was always that moment, when Jocelyn and I got into a fight, where I knew that an argument about me being a werewolf was right at the tip of her tongue. Or on mine, for that matter. I remember this one moment—top three of the worst ones in my life—when she’d just given birth to Clary, and I took her—this little tiny thing—in my arms, just to hold her and give Jocelyn a chance to rest for a moment. And Jocelyn couldn’t relax. She let me hold Clary, and she even smiled. But I could feel her eyes following my every move, until I gave her Clary back, as though her subconscious was just waiting for the wolf in me to do something to harm the baby.”

Magnus shakes his head, and the laugh that escapes his lips sounds hollow in the extreme. “Wow, you’re really selling this interracial parenting thing, aren’t you? So what are you saying? I should just cut my losses and run? Or stay out of it somehow? Let Alec figure out the parenting thing on his own and just be the uncle who brings out the cool magic tricks every other weekend?”

Luke reaches out and puts a hand on his shoulder, trying to steady him.

“I’m saying it’s a tough fight—with yourself and with everyone around you—but it’s one that’s worth it,” he says. “I know I haven’t really known you for that long, but from what I know, I think any child would be lucky to have you for a father. Just… don’t think of it as something that Alec wants that you want to give him—think of yourself, and think of your potential child. Picture yourself with a new life in your arms, and ask yourself if the heartbreak of that child never being fully yours in the eyes of some people is worth it for getting to be the one who’s there at 1 am, rocking them to sleep, and the one who bakes their first birthday cake, and cleans out their first bruised knee.”

“Housework, nursing and not getting any sleep—you sure know how to paint a tempting picture,” Magnus says, carefully wiping at the corner of his eye. “What’s next on your list of pros? The constant worry that my child will be targeted by twice the normal amount of creatures because of who their parents are, or watching my sexlife go down the drain?”

“Well, to be fair, both of those things will probably happen,” Luke says. “It’s all temporary though, at least the sex part. You learn to be very creative with the ‘when’ and ‘where’ if nothing else.”

Magnus groans and drops his head into the hand not holding his cocktail. “See, now you’re making it sound _actually_ tempting! And you’re also majorly confusing my body, because my mind is going back and forth between images of me singing to a baby and images of Alexander taking me against a wall—it’s a _very_ disconcerting combination.”

Luke narrowly manages to avoid spitting his drink back into his glass. “Wow. Yeah—disconcerting is a very good word, there.”

“I suppose it could be done,” Magnus continues, contemplating. “I mean, the loft can be extended infinitely; putting in a nursery would be child’s play—pardon the pun—and it’s got easy access to the Institute.”

“There you go,” Luke replies. “Seriously, though. Just take some time to think. And _talk to Alec_ about it. It’s a decision that will shape both of your lives, individually and together, so you need to be on the same page.”

“I will,” Magnus says. “You know for someone who hasn’t even made it past half a century yet, you’re pretty wise.”

Luke chuckles and clinks his glass to Magnus’. “You’re not the first to tell me that. And I’m glad I could help.”

“So when’s the wedding?

“Eight weeks from Saturday,” Luke replies. “It’s just going to be me, Jocelyn, Clary and Simon. Location undisclosed; we don’t want Valentine to get whiff of it and try to interrupt.”

“Sounds perfect,” Magnus says. “Come see me after, there’s this gorgeous little cabin on a beach in Bali that I’ve kept for its sentimental value all these years. It’d be a beautiful place for a honeymoon, and I’d love to portal you over there.”

He holds out his hand, and Luke takes it, shaking it twice before letting go. “Thank you Magnus, I appreciate it.”

They say their goodbyes, and Luke goes back out to the main room, joining up with two of the other alphas and Raphael and his group. Magnus doesn’t come back out, and Luke isn’t surprised—seems like Magnus has a lot to think about at the moment.

He takes out his phone and hits Jocelyn’s number. 

“Hi, honey. Is everything okay?”

“Just fine,” Luke assures her. “Just wanted to hear your voice, is all.”

Jocelyn makes a pleased little sound, and even though Luke can’t see her, he knows she’s smiling. 

“I’m watching TV with Clary. Come home and join us?”

Luke looks around him and then down at his watch. It’s just gone past eleven. “I’ll be right there.”

 _“Tell him to hurry or we’ll eat all the popcorn before he gets home,”_ he hears Clary say in the background, and his heart swells a little bit at the thought of his daughter, safe and sound in their home in spite of all the dangers that have entered her life recently.

“Did you get that?” Jocelyn asks.

Luke smiles. “Sure did. Tell her I’m taking the threat very seriously, and that she’d better not start putting caramel on any of it before I get there. See you in a sec.”

“Love you,” Jocelyn says simply. Luke echoes the sentiment and ends the call.

Time to go back home to his family—to his amazing daughter and to the woman he’s loved for most of his life, who’ll officially be his wife (by mundane law, at least) in a matter of months. On top of that, he’s the alpha of his pack, and has enough pull in Downworlder circles to make a real difference for the people he cares about. Even with the war going on, gradually putting them all in more and more danger, Luke doesn’t think he’s ever been quite as happy as he is right now.

Seems like good things really do come to those who wait. Luke grins to himself and starts jogging back towards his car.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love! Come talk Downworlder squad goals with me. :DDDDDD


End file.
